Phantom of the Opera 2: The Beauty Underneath
by Elli M. Coast
Summary: Young Meg walks into her friends dressing room to find a ghost from the past still resides there
1. Prologue

_**Hey sorry I'm so late I have been really busy with school and all that jazz but it is now spring break and I will try to update as the week passes hopefully every other day or so and I will be rewriting the first three chapters of my book. Enjoy Chapter 1 of The Beauty Underneath (just a by the way I wanted to say that this will be in POVs for the rest of the book)**_

_**The Beauty Underneath**_

_**By Elli Coast**_

Chapter 1: Meg's Haunting Tale

My eyes were throbbing and red as I ran into the dressing room labeled _Christine Daae_. I looked around the emptied room sobbing horribly. I slowly brought myself to look at the human sized mirror and saw my thin body. I had the typical ballet body. As I looked at myself in the mirror, I felt someone watching me. Who was this invisible force lingering over my being?

I started to walk closer to the mirror still sobbing. My blonde hair slightly drooped over my face. I quickly pushed it to the side letting myself see the path in front of me. Suddenly, I saw two eyes staring back at me. I gasped as the mirror opened to fin a man who looked as if in his 20s or 30s. He was dressed in a formal outfit with a black cloak draped over him. The cloak had a hood that covered his face, so I couldn't see much of his face.

He started to walk closer to me and he caught up to me. He grabbed my wrists as I squealed. The man held his boney withered hand over my mouth so my squeals would, at the least, get softer. He calmly shushed me as my eyes were as wide as they could possibly be. I didn't pay attention to his hard grip of my two hands; I could only pay attention to this shadow's chin and bottom lip. I could see parts of his chin were wet, was he crying as hard as I was. He let go of my mouth. "Let me go…" I whisper as my voice quivered.

"Please Meg I-" I stopped him

"No… I don't want to hear your crap… let me got." I said more stern.

He did as I commanded and backed away to give me my room to breath. I looked angrily at the cloaked man. "Who are you…?"

"I am the Opera Ghost," he said staying completely still, "I did not come here to harm you. Only to share your pain. I know what it's like to loose her… to loose Christine… I loved her as well. You know I did. She spoke of me to you. I was the 'Angel' she spoke of. Now it seems I am more of the devil to her." He explained to me. _This_ was Christine's 'Angel of Music'? He was no Angel of Music! He was the Angel of _Death!_ He walked a little closer to me. "Meg, my name is … Erik…" he looked down to his feet.

"Erik… I need to see your face… so I know who I am talking to…" I said not afraid of him as I once was a moment ago.

"N-no… M-meg please…" he said not moving to stop my hand.

"Erik, please, if I am to trust you, you must first trust me." I sighed trying to show him some compassion. I moved toward his hood, I could see his hand moving to mine but it was shaking. I removed his hood and looked at his face. Half was covered by a mask but I can't imagine it was much worse then the uncovered side. His face was withered, as if he hadn't eaten for years, and pale. The poor thing, was he sick? Erik had dark bags under his eyes and wrinkles to make him look as if he was sixty!

I must help him…


	2. Chapter 1

**Chapter 1: Erik's Care Taker**

I stood in front of Meg, my face almost naked and boney. I hadn't eaten or taken care of myself sense Christine had left. I, also, hadn't looked at myself in the mirror sense then. I looked into Meg's wonderfully blue eyes; I could tell she was afraid of my face… even when it was covered.

I swiftly looked back to the mirror and pulled the hood back over my head. I heard Meg call out to me. I ignored her and started to retreat to my personal hell. I didn't want to bother with my life. I listened behind me and I could hear her chasing me down through my labyrinth. I stopped in my tracks, I heard Meg slowly creeping up behind me. She slowly came up to me and touched my shoulder. I looked to her eyes… her solemn deep blue eyes. She smiled lightly to me. She reached down for my hand.

I felt a sharp pain in my chest and started to ferociously cough. I felt as though I would cough up blood. Meg patted my back hoping that it would help. I fell to the floor as I coughed holding my stomach. She tried to help me back up but I pushed her away. She could help me either way! I was condemned to suffer till I died.

I heard her sweet voice call to me once more, "Erik… Erik, come on! I have to get you to your home!"

"No! I'm fine!" I snapped at her. She pulled back for a second, then continued to help me. I tried to brush her away with the little energy I had left.

She ignored my flailing arm and helped me up. She placed me over her shoulder. As we limped along I directed her to the lake. We reached the lake and she laid me down inside of the gondola and paddled us to the other side. My cloak was draped over me like a blanket. The hood was folded down so I was not covered completely. I felt a chill run down my spine and a cough escaped my mouth.

We reach the rocky home on the lake. The surroundings didn't matter to me right now I just needed to rest…

Two weeks later:

During my sick days Meg stayed by my side. She tried to feed me but I would not allow her to. I would not let some stranger care for me! She really had no choice though… I did not take care of myself. But I did not care for my life anymore. Christine was gone, what was the point? I could not go on without her! Why did this young, ignorant, girl think I had to continue to live? I was a walking dead man…

Meg walked up to me smiling, "Good morning Erik!" She seemed very happy today. I glared at her though the masked side of my face. My other eye had become infected from the sewage water around me. Meg had covered it with a thick cloth around my eye so it would not get infected anymore.

She ignored my glares and continued to walk to me. I sat up as usual and she sat on a chair next to my bird shaped bed. Meg smiled warmly to me as I struggled to sit up. She knew I would have pushed her away if she had offered to help me. I let out another cough, not as bad as they once were. She placed her hand under my chin to check my temperature.

"Your fever is going down, Erik. Would you like to eat something?" Meg asked rummaging though her bag to look for a piece of bread to feed me with. I looked out to the lake. She looked at me and looked out to the lake with me. "Erik…?"

"She will never come back will she…?"

Meg was silent. I looked over to her worried she didn't know the answer. I knew there was no chance of Christine coming back after what I had done but… I needed to be consoled. She looked down, unsure of what to tell me. I laid back down in my bed and turned my body away from her.

She placed her hand on my shoulder and rubbed it back and forth alone my arm. "Erik, please, don't be like that… Christine has her own life now. You know that I will always help you… right?" She was questioning my trust in her… I didn't have a lot of trust in her though… she was a mere ballet girl. Who knows what she did when I was asleep? I had been such a heavy sleeper because of my sickness. She could had been taking off my mask when I was asleep… or even worse…

I didn't respond to her. She started to get worried that I didn't trust her. "Erik…?" She started. I stood up from my bed and started to walk out grabbing my cape and walking into the gondola. "Erik! Erik, you have to stay here! You aren't well enough to go out!" I ignored Meg's cries to bring me back to bed and continued onward to the above world…


End file.
